Yarn Bird Feeder

Since we’ve moved to our current home, I’ve noticed how established and serene our family’s yards are. I love all of the little squirrels and birds that are happily playing around their trees.

We do not own one tree (yet). It’s hard to attract birds with no trees so I have to lure them with tasty treats and luscious building materials for their homes. This was an inexpensive and simple craft that would be fun to do with little kids!
Necessary Tools & Materials: scissors, yarn (great way to use up old scraps!), suet bird feeder

 

1.) Wrap yarn around your hand

2.) Cut yarn

3.) Stuff feeder

4.) Wait for birds

Green Thumb McGee

It has begun! My love of flowers comes from my Mom. Her and my Dad both ALWAYS had a perfect yard with lush green grass, big trees and lots of flowers year round. Now that it’s spring, I’m finally able to put my winter research to good use and start planting! We started small by planting about 70 yellow and pink tulips in a circle around our front lamp post. While attempting to dig we realized our soil is 95% clay and will not make for healthy living conditions. We dug down 8inches and replaced all of the soil with 11 bags of new potting soil!

Look at the little guy breaking through!!

Our second project was a flower bed that is 19×7 ft up against the front of our house. Here is the process of our flower planting process:

First Step: Figure out the size of the area you’re looking to plant in. Watch the planting area at different times of day to figure out how much sunlight it gets. Research plants that fit that criteria or wing it and read the tags while you’re picking out the flowers. I tend to research things when it comes to something that will be a continuous project. I started researching the internet, library books and other people’s gardens 4 months ago.

Second Step: Go to the store to buy your flowers. Ask if you have questions. If the tags aren’t clear or you’re not sure if they grow well in your zone, someone will be able to help. Most likely they’ll give you very helpful tips! Lay out the flowers in the configuration that fits your planting area there at the store. This will tell you if you need to buy more or if the colors/textures go well together.

Third Step: Spray paint the perimeter of your flower garden to gauge the size. Lay out your flowers in your flower bed and clump like flowers together. Odd numbers work well in gardens.

Fourth Step: Prep your area by removing sod. Thankfully our sod had been laid within this year so we were able to tear it up fairly easily. We scored the perimeter with our shovel and made a grid so we could pull up the smaller square of sod with our fingers. **Use gloves to pull up sod to avoid your nails ripping out.**

Fifth Step: DIG! Since our soil was so hard and thick because of the clay, I made a mixture of compost and top soil in a storage tub. I dug the holes for the plants twice the recommended size and planted the flowers with my soil mixture. When digging your holes, remember to leave enough space between flowers for the plant to fully mature without crowding out other plants. Our flower bed looks very bare right now because all of our plants will be getting 2-3 times of their current size. The remedy of bare flowerbeds is to plant annuals throughout to fill in the gaps.

Voila! happy little plants! We still have to spread the removed clay, plant some filler annuals and lay mulch but they are looking pretty good for now!

Once the plants grow a bit I’ll update more pictures! The plants that are in that flower bed are shade loving plants. Hosta, Boxwood, Astilbe, Bleeding Hearts, Lungwort, Azelea, and Brunnera.